Cranial Helmets Offer Fresh Start For Kids

Cranial Helmets Offer Fresh Start For Kids

Cranial helmets offer children born with deformed heads a chance at normal development. KRBC's Nora Hartfeil looked into one young boy's medical journey.

Wylie Enox is your typical little boy, all smiles, with the occasional tantrum.

You would never tell that just months ago, 1 year-old Wylie was recovering from an extreme medical condition.

"When he was born he was not able to move his neck muscles fully, so he would always lay on one spot, which created a flat spot", says Kasey Enox, Wylie's mother.

After a few appointments to have his head checked, doctors made a decision that would change Wylie's life.

"It's pretty severe, it met some numbers, so we feel like 'OK that's not going to self-correct, and we needed to go ahead and take action to fit him with a helmet'", Scott Jameson, of West Texas Rehab, explains.

After molding a cranial mask, "We are able to use a digital scanning system to take a model and create a helmet", explains Jameson, and undergoing physical therapy, Wylie wore his helmet for several months.

"He had to wear it 23 hours a day, he could only have it off for baths", says Enox.

"They are sleeping in it and wearing it all the time. Getting the parents to be compliant with it, creates a success story like Wylie's", Jameson tells us.

Though the condition was a bit of a scare, Wylie's mom says she thankful for the local medical treatment and that her little Wylie can now live a normal life and put his best face forward.

Recent News

A border lawmaker on Monday said the Texas Department of Public Safety has failed to provide details to back up claims that the state's multimillion-dollar surge of law enforcement to the border is producing results.

In what’s expected to be a marathon budget debate on the Texas House floor Tuesday, lawmakers are likely to veer into hot-button issues including abortion, gay marriage, illegal immigration, school vouchers, racism and gender equality.